1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to audio jacks and more particularly, to an audio jack assembly, which utilizes modularized terminals for the connection of leads by means of press-fitting, simplifying the installation procedure and saving much the cost.
2. Description of the Related Art
A multimedia player (stereo, PC or DVD player) has speakers connected thereto for voice output. The number of the speakers is determined subject to the number of audio output channels of the multimedia player. For example, a music CD player has a left channel and a right channel for output of stereo sound. A computer may be equipped with an AC '97 5.1 sound card to provide 5 discrete channels and one low frequency channel for audio output through a respective speaker. In 2004 Analia was created for delivering high-definition audio that is capable of playing back more channels at higher quality than previous integrated audio codecs like AC '97.
Further, a multimedia player generally has an audio connector (audio jack assembly) provided at its motherboard, and the audio connector has one or a number of plug holes for the insertion of a respective audio plug for audio output. FIG. 8 is an exploded view of an audio jack assembly according to the prior art. According to this design, the audio jack assembly comprises an electrically insulative housing A that has a plurality of vertically spaced accommodation chambers A2 and a plurality of plug holes A1 respectively disposed corresponding to the accommodation chambers, and multiple terminal sets respectively accommodated in the accommodation chambers A2. Each terminal set includes signal terminals B and switching terminals C. Each signal terminal B has a base B1 mounted in one accommodation chamber A2 of the electrically insulative housing A, and a bonding endpiece B2 backwardly extending from the back side of the base B1 for bonding to a circuit board. Each switching terminal C has a base C1 mounted in one accommodation chamber C2 of the electrically insulative housing A, and a bonding endpiece C2 backwardly extending from the back side of the base C1 for bonding to a circuit board. When an audio plug is inserted into one plug hole A1, the switching terminals C of the respective terminal set are electrically connected by the audio plug to switch on the circuit, allowing audio output through the associating signal terminals B.
According to the aforesaid designs, the terminal sets are arranged in the electrically insulative housing A at different elevations, and the bonding endpieces B2 or C2 of an upper terminal set are relatively longer than that of a lower terminal set, i.e., the terminal sets have different sizes. Further, the terminals B and C are respectively made out of a then metal sheet by means of a stamping technique and then bent into shape. This design wastes a big amount of the metal material. Further, because of low structural strength, the narrow elongated bonding endpieces of the terminals can easily be deformed or broken by an external force during installation. Further, because the narrow elongated bonding endpieces of the terminals are arranged in a narrow space, they may be bonded to the circuit board erroneously, resulting a high defect rate. Further, because different stamping dies are necessary for making the signal terminals B and the switching terminals C, the tooling cost is high.
To eliminate the aforesaid problems, an adapter board may be used in an audio jack assembly. According to this design, as shown in FIG. 9, signal terminals B and switching terminals C are bonded to an adapter board D that electrically connects the terminals to the motherboard. This design reduces waste of metal material. However, the use of the adapter board D relatively increases the fabrication cost and complicates the installation procedure. Further, when bonding signal terminals B and switching terminals C to the adapter board D, a bonding error may occur, increasing the defect rate.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an audio jack assembly that eliminates the drawbacks of the aforesaid prior art designs.